It’s been a rough few weeks for TNA, both on a micro level and a macro level, but somewhere in the midst of all the chaos the company put together a solid episode of Impact Wrestling that managed to bring in some increased viewership.
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TNA’s ratings from the October 20th edition of Impact are much higher than their last outing, which pulled in 284 thousand viewers on October 13 (via CageSideSeats). This week Impact bounced back with 353 thousand viewers, in part thanks to Cody Rhodes. TNA made sure to highlight his upcoming title match in their advertising, a match that put him against the newly crowned TNA champion Eddie Edwards, who won the belt at the most recent Bound For Glory pay-per-view.
It didn’t hurt that the same episode also featured a number 1 contender’s match between Moose and Bobby Lashley, who lost the belt to Edwards at Bound For Glory. Lashley came out on top, but it’s likely the start of a longer program. The episode also served as the debut for a new stable that will enter into a program with Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero, which should end up being pretty entertaining.
Ratings over the last few episodes have hovered in the mid 300 range, other than October 13 (284 thousand) and October 6 (305 thousand).
Of course, the increased ratings depend on the seemingly never ending drama behind the scenes, which really threatens to take the whole company down. President Billy Corgan is in the midst of a lawsuit against TNA, which revolves around a loan that was ultimately paid back by new financier the Fight Network, owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. New court documents recently revealed that Corgan is requesting all documents related to Dixie Carter and Impact Wrestling’s negotiations with the WWE regarding their tape library, as well as proof that Carter and company didn’t default on the loan.
In the meantime, hopefully, TNA can continue to build on its in-ring talent and put on some good shows until all of this can get straightened out.
